The world of film and television begins with Ning'an as a dream

Although the Wang family only sent more than 10,000 guards, they were originally here to do business. If Jiaozhi violated the agreement, Wang Yue, the governor, would certainly not sit idly by.

More than a year passed like this, and the large number of people purchased were transported to Liangzhou through the Wangjia Trading Company's fleet, and its tentacles also penetrated into Yihua.

The young and strong men in the mountain stronghold came here to make a fortune, and they didn't care about the lives of the local people, which led to a lot of public resentment. However, these people in the mountain stronghold were very respectful to the people from Wang's Trading Company, and often stepped forward to mediate the conflicts between the two. This in turn increased the reputation of the Wang family in the buffer zone, making it the uncrowned king of the two states in the buffer zone.

Because the Wang family was relatively fair and mainly engaged in business, they always paid taxes honestly as long as it did not affect their business. Under the cover of the young and strong chieftains who were causing trouble in the area, the Wang family developed very quickly.

In the following period, the Jiaozhi royal family, which had recovered, wanted to take back the buffer zone, but their own people told the Wang family the news in advance, for fear of delaying the business cooperation with the Wang family.

After suppressing several attacks by the Jiaozhi Li family in succession, the Jiaozhi royal family could no longer suppress the governors of various counties. The royal family became just a name, and the imperial orders could not go beyond a few counties in the imperial city.

The counties in the south were constantly attacking each other, and the people were living in misery. Instead, more people defected to the Wang family.

……

The beginning of the twelfth year of Jiayou.

The emperor was seriously ill, so he appointed his 20-year-old grandson Zhao Xu as the crown prince, allowing him to attend court and assist the emperor in handling state affairs.

The Crown Prince was very diligent. In less than half a year, he had satisfied all the senior officials in the court, and the Emperor was also relieved.

In the twelfth year of Jiayou, autumn

The Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty passed away and was posthumously named Ren. The new emperor Zhao Xu succeeded to the throne, changed the era name to Xining, and issued a general amnesty.

After several years of development, Wang Yue controlled the buffer zone and the Dai Viet Kingdom in Jiaozhi. His sphere of influence extended deep into Dali, Khmer, Champa and other countries, and even areas such as Ryukyu in the east were involved.

Without the influence of external threats, the garrison in southern Guangxi also began to encircle and suppress the bandits in the territory, so that the trade route was no longer affected.

The trade routes were smooth, the people in the area had enough food and clothing, and even immigrants from other states and counties would come to Guangnan West Road to settle down.

The entire Guangnan West Road developed very rapidly, and tax revenues more than doubled, which made officials from various states and counties very happy.

Judging from this kind of results, their future evaluations will not be bad, and they are all looking forward to such a day. They must keep it up.

In the winter of the first year of Xining

The new emperor Zhao Xu issued an edict appointing Wang Anshi as the prefect of Jiangning.

In the second year of Xining, spring

The new emperor was impatient and ordered Wang Anshi, whom he admired, to be a scholar in the Hanlin Academy and a lecturer.

Wang Anshi and the emperor had a very pleasant conversation and the emperor was very interested in the reforms proposed by Wang Anshi.

Wang Anshi even proposed a way to govern the country. First, we must determine the method of reform and encourage officials to emulate Yao and Shun and simplify the rule of law.

The new emperor agreed with some of Wang Anshi's ideas, but he was still a little hesitant about the reform. However, he asked Wang Anshi to perfect his ideas and discuss them later.

Wang Anshi then wrote a memorial on the dynasty's hundred years of peace, briefly explaining the circumstances and reasons for the hundred years of peace, pointing out the crises that were rife at the time, and hoping that the government would be determined to carry out reforms.

In order to make the emperor believe, he also recounted the many policies he and Wang Yue had issued in Changzhou, and said that the people in Changzhou now have enough food and clothing.

After hearing what Wang Anshi said, the emperor thought of Wang Yue who was far away in Guangnan. He felt that Wang Yue was appointed by the late emperor to go to Lingnan because of him.

Although he admired Wang An, he still said, "Since Wang Qing is familiar with Teacher Yan Hui, why don't I recruit him back? Let's discuss it together?"

Wang Anshi and Wang Yue had only occasionally contacted each other through letters in recent years, and they had not had any serious contact for several years. After hearing what the emperor said, he could only endure it for the time being.

The second year of Xining, summer.

The emperor ordered Wang Yue to come to Beijing to report on his work. After Wang Yue had arranged his work, he returned to Beijing immediately without any intention of staying, which made people look at him differently.

Officials within the country were somewhat reluctant to let Wang Yue leave. After all, there were very few superiors like Wang Yue who were not authoritarian and treated their subordinates well.

However, no matter how reluctant they were, Wang Yue had to return to Beijing. He felt that the time for reform in the Song Dynasty had come.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the palace, his girlfriend also entered the palace. The two of them met the new emperor at Funingdian together.

Imperial Palace, Funing Hall

The new emperor Zhao Xu first exchanged greetings with Wang Yue, and then excitedly talked about Wang Anshi's reform plan.

After listening to it, Wang Yue found that it was not much different from what he had learned in school, and he had already prepared himself mentally.

After listening to Wang Anshi's eloquent narration in detail, Wang Yue finally raised his own question, "Jiefu, your method of recruiting labor is similar to the one we used in Changzhou, but have you ever thought about one thing?"

Wang Anshi was stunned for a moment, then asked in confusion, "What's the problem?"

Wang Yue said solemnly, "Your method allows those who don't want to do corvée labor to pay money to be exempted from it, so those who don't have money will have no choice but to do it.

Our court's projects were not like those at that time where we contracted out work. We were paid a certain amount of money for completing a task, regardless of the time taken.

Your plan is based on daily calculations, and it is about how much money you will be paid per day. This way it will be much slower. After all, since we are all working together, you can get more money for each extra day you work.

But some families are small or poor, and they have no money so they have to do corvee labor. If the corvee labor is too long, it will delay their farming and make their life even more difficult.”

If other people were to reason with Wang Anshi, he might really not listen and would think that they were just refuting him because they disagreed with his reforms.

But Wang Yue is different. He admires Wang Yue's way of governing very much. He has asked you about both Changzhou and Yongzhou.

Although Wang Yue did not bring it up, he modified many previous regulations in disguise, which not only improved the progress of the project but also prevented the people from suffering.

So, after hearing Wang Yue's reminder, Wang Anshi frowned and said, "But you also said at the time that they also earn money by working. Although the harvest from the land is a little less, isn't it also earned back through corvee labor?

Moreover, I have also made those who are unwilling to pay corvee spend money, and I can use this money to pay those who work, isn’t that good?”

Chapter 221 Reform!

Wang Yue sighed and said helplessly, "Your idea is good, but when it is implemented, there will be a shortage of people to support the corvée, which will greatly slow down the progress.

When we were in Changzhou, we actually hired a lot of people from the Cao Gang. They didn’t farm at all and lived on working, so there wasn’t much of an impact.”

Wang Anshi pondered for a moment and asked uncertainly, "Does Yan Hui mean that we should abolish corvée service in Changzhou first?"

Wang Yue knew Wang Anze's character. He could only hint at it and could not give Wang Anshi direct advice. So he shook his head and said seriously, "Of course it's possible to cancel corvée labor, but some government offices don't have that much money to hire people to do the work."

After hearing this, Wang Anshi said unhappily, "This won't work, and that won't work either. What do you think we should do?"

The emperor was very optimistic about both Wang Yue and Wang Anshi. When he saw that the two were about to quarrel, he hurriedly said, "Please stop quarreling. I think it would be better to set a time for the corvée so that it does not affect the people's farming."

Wang Yue originally wanted to wait for Wang Anshi to come up with his own idea, but now that the emperor had proposed it, he immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise! That's it. The time for corvée labor will be limited. If it exceeds this time, we will give more wages. At the same time, we will hire some people who don't have to farm."

Wang Anshi nodded and said in agreement, "We should also do some subcontracting, so that we can finish the work faster."

Wang Yue had a frown on his face. The working hours for this contract were officially set, but what if some of the work could not be completed?

Could it be that those who were hired would also shout out like at the end of the Qin Dynasty, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different species?"

So he quickly said, "Jiefu's idea is very good, but if we contract the work, we need to arrange for someone to test it at a normal pace first, and then give an overall price.

We cannot blindly set prices without conducting experiments, as this will likely result in many tasks that cannot be completed, which will in turn cheat the people.”

Wang Anshi saw that Wang Yue had always considered things from the perspective of ordinary people. At the beginning, he felt that Wang Yue was just supplementing his ideas, so he nodded and said, "Then we will do this according to our discussion. What about the others?"

Wang Anshi was just anxious to reform, and the changes had not yet begun, so he was still willing to listen to opinions. Moreover, since it was proposed by Wang Yue, he was more likely to listen, and was not as stubborn as Wang Yue imagined.

Wang Yue saw Wang Anshi asking for other suggestions, and his confidence increased, so he continued, "Your Qingmiao Law is actually quite good. It prevents the common people from borrowing money from the landlords and gentry, and prevents the gentry from using the routine of borrowing money to occupy the farmland of the common people.

But this also has a disadvantage, because some people do not need to borrow money. Forcing them to borrow money and charging so much interest is tantamount to exploitation in disguise.

Many people who have slightly better conditions may become poor after such exploitation.

Another question is whether officials below will use this law to make profits. This is also a problem. "

After listening to Wang Yue's reminder, the emperor felt that it made sense, so he asked solemnly, "It is indeed possible. What do you think, teacher?"

Without waiting for Wang Yue to answer, Wang Anshi said, "The court has censors and so many officials watching, I think the officials below don't dare to do that.

As for the issue of forced lending, if this is not done, the people are likely to borrow money from familiar landlords and gentry. After all, most people are unwilling to deal with officials. "

Wang Yue didn't expect Wang Anshi to understand this, so he smiled and said, "In fact, if Brother Jiefu is afraid that the people will not borrow money from the government, he only needs to pass a law.

Loans that are not certified by the government are not recognized and are not protected by the court's laws.

By that time, even the landlords, gentry or money houses would take the initiative to bring the people who wanted to borrow money to the government for certification.

We only need to collect a handling fee, which is a source of income, and the court does not need to allocate special funds, which is simply killing two birds with one stone."

The new emperor's eyes lit up when he heard Wang Yue's words, and he praised him repeatedly, saying, "Teacher, this is a good suggestion. We don't have to borrow money from outside, and the treasury doesn't have to allocate extra funds. We can also have extra income."

Wang Anshi saw that the emperor agreed, so he thought that this was not a bad idea. Although the income would be less, just as Wang Yue thought, this would indirectly slow down the annexation of land.

After all, if the loan is supervised by the government, the interest rate won’t be too bad, so he added, “This clause should be the same as the previous one. It should be clearly stipulated in the contract, and the interest rate and handling fee should be fixed.”

Seeing Wang Anshi's proactive addition, Wang Yue smiled and nodded in praise, "Jiefu's addition is good."

Wang Anshi's face turned red. The excellent plan he and his staff came up with needed to be further improved when it came to Wang Yue, which made him feel embarrassed.

After hearing Wang Yue's praise, he quickly said, "Brother Yan Hui, stop praising me. Please tell me about the other points. What are the shortcomings?"

Wang Yue nodded and continued, "As for the proposal on farmland irrigation, I think that including the construction of irrigation works in the evaluation criteria for officials will lead to officials forcing the people to build irrigation works, which is corvée labor.

Therefore, they can be included in the assessment, but as mentioned before, the time for each person to perform corvée labor each year is set, and people are not allowed to be forced to work. "

Wang Anshi felt that Wang Yue had no idea about this, and he just emphasized the duration of the Fuyao instrument. He nodded and said, "That's fine. Are there any other problems?"

Wang Yue saw that Wang Anshi was a little nervous, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He quickly explained, "Everything else is good, but Jiefu may have overlooked a problem."

Wang Anshi thought about it carefully, but didn't find any problem, so he asked in confusion, "Please tell me what I overlooked."

Wang Yue sighed and said helplessly, "Although your remaining suggestions appear to target landlords and businessmen, have you ever considered who most of these landlords and businessmen are?"

Wang Anshi was a little confused. He said doubtfully, "Of course I know. They are either from aristocratic families or relatives of some officials."

Wang Yue nodded and said seriously, "It would be great if the equal tax on square fields and the market exchange law could be implemented, but their targets are officials, so there will be great resistance.

For example, my family used to be merchants, but now I am also an official.

Take Jiefu for example. Although your family is a noble family, you still have a lot of land at home. After all, investing money in land is a sure-win business.

There are very few people who can study and become officials, especially those who are poor. Once you become an official, it is easy to get land. Therefore, you have harmed the interests of most people. "

After hearing what Wang Yue said, Wang Anshi said angrily, "Yan Hui, you disappoint me so much. You actually want to block these two suggestions? I thought you were for the people and didn't care about your own interests."

Wang Yue didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he quickly explained, "Jiefu, calm down, we have been together for such a long time, don't you know who I am?

What I mean is that you offended so many people at once, but it was not you who was in charge, but the officials.

You have no idea about the specific hosting strength, you can only see that some data has increased.

So, my suggestion is, either pick two or three routes to execute first, and I will personally watch over them for you to ensure that they are executed thoroughly.

Even if you choose my hometown Liangzhe, I will definitely not make any mistakes.

But if it spreads across the whole country at once, we don’t have enough manpower to look at it. If we only look at the data, reform will easily lead to problems.

By then, the entire court will become a market, with quarrels every day. Not only will it be difficult for Your Majesty, but even the implementation of our reforms will be very slow."

Wang Anshi was originally very angry, but Wang Yue actually said that he would enforce both reforms. He suddenly felt that he had misunderstood Wang Yue.

He bowed to Wang Yue and then said seriously, "I misunderstood Yan Hui. The reform was originally intended to reform the government. I have already been mentally prepared."

Wang Yue was speechless, and said unhappily, "Jie Fu, I didn't say no to reform. You have to understand that I also support reform. Our goals are actually the same. I just said that we should not reform the whole country at once.

In this case, those who oppose the reform will cause trouble. Even if the ministers in the court do not oppose the reform, they will think that this is a disturbance in the court, and then put pressure on you. At that time, they will ask the Queen Mother to put pressure on Your Majesty, and our reform may be interrupted again. "

After Wang Yue's reminder, the emperor felt that it made sense. After all, if only a few people were reformed, it would indeed cause unrest in the court. At that time, those old ministers would definitely ask the Empress Dowager for help. If the Empress Dowager used filial piety to pressure him, he would be very embarrassed. He asked excitedly, "Teacher, what do you think we should do?"

Wang Yue smiled and said, "It's actually very simple. Our reform cannot cause any shock. It's best to first select two or three places with serious land annexation to carry out the reform. If the reform is successful, then we can promote it to the whole country. The officials in the court will no longer oppose it, and those officials and gentry below who are motivated by family interests will have no choice but to appoint them."

Wang Anshi was still pondering Wang Yue's words. He felt that Wang Yue's worries were a bit unnecessary. After all, as long as the emperor was willing, no one else would stop him. However, the Empress Dowager was really troublesome.

Chapter 222: Molan’s Marriage!

After listening to Wang Yue's words, the emperor decided to give it a try. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then in your opinion, where should we start?"

Wang Yue had been prepared for this. He said very seriously, "Don't touch the borders of the countries for now. If Your Majesty wants to have a chance to see the results of the improvement with your own eyes, start the reform in the areas near Kyoto. If Your Majesty is afraid that there will be too many royal relatives and nobles, which will cause unnecessary trouble, you can start with the reforms in the two Zhejiang South East Road and other places."

The emperor understood what Wang Yue meant. If he wanted to feel the pressure of the Empress Dowager in advance, he could start the reform from the areas near Kyoto. If he was afraid of trouble, he could start with other prefectures and counties.

He was a little undecided, so he looked at Wang Anshi and asked, "Jie Fu, where do you think is a good place to start?"

Wang Anshi saw that the partial reform had been decided. In order to show his determination, he had to start from his hometown. Moreover, he felt that the step was too small with only two or three routes. He said simply, "Your Majesty, I think we can add Fujian Road, Jiangnan West Road and Guangnan East Road to the Liangzhe Road and Jiangnan East Road mentioned by Yan Hui. These include my and Yan Hui's hometowns respectively. This will show the court's determination to reform. Moreover, as Yan Hui said, if the scale is too small, it will not show the determination to reform."

The emperor was very moved when he saw Wang Anshi sacrifice his own family for the greater good. He said, "In this case, let's follow the advice of Jiefu and Master. But who will lead the reform?"

Wang Yue didn't want to have a personal quarrel with his wife in the court, so he stepped out and said, "I am willing to go!"

Wang Anshi also immediately retorted, "Yan Hui, I'd better go. I hate being constrained. If I stay in Beijing, I will inevitably quarrel with others. Besides, I also want to see the effect of the reform myself, so as to prepare for the subsequent promotion across the country."